Emotionally Engaged: My Journey Into Emotional Wealth
“...you’ve been depressed for about twenty years.”
Those words marked the end of my very first therapy session two decades ago. They landed heavy, yet strangely, I felt relief.
I instinctively replied, “But I’ve been happy sometimes.” At that moment, a memory flashed of me as a child, caught in what I used to call my “melancholy periods.” For the first time, I had a name for what had been quietly shaping my life.
Until then, I never considered myself depressed. I didn’t really understand emotional well-being at all. But in the space between my therapist’s words and my own recognition, a door opened. It was the beginning of my journey into emotional self-engagement.
That session was jarring and liberating all at once. For the first time in nearly thirty years, I began to notice and connect with my emotions—not to fix them, but to feel them. My therapist made it clear that I wasn’t broken. Healing wasn’t about reaching an endpoint of perfection; it was about relating, tending, and deepening into my humanity.
Over the last twenty years, I’ve learned that Emotional Wealth isn’t one-size-fits-all. It is a lifelong practice of noticing, feeling, and honoring your emotional landscape. Sometimes it’s messy, sometimes it’s illuminating. Always, it’s alive.
Kerry Washington once said: “I’m not in this to be done. This is a gift I give to myself.” That is how I’ve come to view emotional engagement—an ongoing gift of presence, honesty, and care.
So I ask you:
How often are you emotionally engaged with yourself?
When was the last time you felt deeply connected to your needs?
What does successful emotional care look like for you?
